On Fri, 14 Oct 2005 13:35:38 -0400, Stewart Kriss 
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>those who are pumping iron to stay fit,are you lifting heavy weight or
>lower weights at more reps? any opinions on which is more beneficial for
>staying fit,not necessarily body building condition.?

None of this light weight for 20 reps garbage.  Do whatever weight you can 
lift for 8, maybe 10 reps like Jimski said.  You need those last 2 or so 
to really be a struggle but not enough that you lose form and look like a 
fish that just got hooked.  The muscle "toning" of light weights for 10's 
of reps won't do anything...I guess it could keep you in whatever shape 
you're in, but you won't make any improvement.  Also, even if you take a 
heavier route with say 4-6 reps, don't worry about being in body building 
condition. You'll just look strong in a fit way.  Overall, just stick to 
the 8-10 rep range.  

Another thing that should be done within a single workout is start out 
light and work to heavier stuff.  Say you're doing some exercise for 3 
sets.  Start the first set with something you can do 10 reps at.  Add 
weight for your second set and get 8 reps.  Then add a little more for 
your final set to get 6 or 7.  You'll get much more out of that then if 
you just did three sets of ten reps each.

And work major muscle groups...squats, bench press, shrugs, bent over row, 
etc.  For abdominal, find something besides just the usual crunches that 
will hit all parts of your core...it can still be a crunch but throw in 
leg movement, a twist, maybe some sort of weight or ball (can even just be 
a basketball or something) to work on stabilization.

-Scott  

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